Out of the Box

Sunday, 21st May 2006
09.45 PM
Prins Hendrikkade, Amsterdam

www.kambingjantan.com

It was that when Ludi told me the phenomenon called Radithya Dika had I realised the option to make things happen for yourself.

Here he is, this 21 year old guy who, in my most humble opinion, constitutes as the perfect every-guy. He has published 1 book and another is in waiting. He_is_funny.

Then I started asking myself, What is so wrong with this? Why is it, that for twenty something years of my life, the dominant paradigm in my head is to graduate, work and get your masters degree? Is it really what I want? Is it really what we all want? Why do we have to work for other people? Why do we have to wake up early in the morning, sit on our asses during traffic jams, sit on our asses all day in front of the computer and be miserable, go home exhausted, and do it all over again the next day for the rest of our lives?

Why can't we make it happen for ourselves, like this guy named Radith?

It is the security, I agree. To know where the next paycheck is coming from. Life becomes a responsibility of buying food and paying the electricity that you lose yourself in the process. Who you are. Your identity.

Not so long ago I was still dreaming of ambitious jobs; most of which consists of working for someone else. Yes, I want to work for international or regional bodies like UNESCO or ASEAN - but there, I work for someone else. I am a tool. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but why does it have to be my only choice?

I have been trained in my Research Masters Programme to generate research ideas feasible and novel in my field. Each week I had to prepare presentations, audio visual examples, talk in front of my peer of people knowledgable of what I am talking about, and able to criticise me, and finish in a timely manner so that the next speaker has enough and the show goes on. It's tough love. This week I had to create a thorough three optioned themed conference. I started browsing and that is when I realised my options. I am not being trained for nothing. There are so many South East Asian research bodies that call for papers and organise conferences searching for people like me. There, I am a researcher, I present myself, my own thoughts - and the best of all, I can make it happen for myself and not by being a tool for someone else.

I started weighing the highs and lows. Managing my own time, being able to monitor my children's psychological growth - actually being able to resolve sibling quarrels not by saying "Udah, ngalah aja sama adeknya," just because I'm too tired to try after an exhausting day's work. Being able to attend to their questions and finding answers from books and the internet together. If this isn't a carreer, I don't know what is.

I am not saying that being a corporate tool is a disgrace - I am trying to say that it is not our only option. Truly ask yourself what you want, acknowledge what your potentials are, what distinguishes you from others - and be that person because of choice, not because of a societal paradigm of what is better.

When I was 20 (not like it has been that long ago) I saw my carreer path as a straight road with obstacles which in the process I find ways to overcome them. Little did I know that that straight path has intersections, left turns, right turns and, bottom line, choices. New perspectives that I would never have known should I not have arrived in that spot, during that time. Things that come to you by cause and effect, not by plan. You interact with new people and open up your mind, only to realise that life isn't black and white and thinking out of the box really is possible.

At the end of the day, you should do what you enjoy to do - because in each and every interest of ours exists division of labour. We should not allow external factors impose their values on ours. Right and wrong is too subjective to share; there is only what is good for ourselves and what benefits ourselves the most. If you're really lucky, you get to benefit others as well.

To Arya
With whom I can talk
about every single thing
I can come up with